The Roanoker March/April 2017 - 82

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Former Hollins President Maggie O'Brien
The '91-'96 head of Hollins has settled in her native Maryland.

MAGGIE O'BRIEN HAS SETTLED into the country estate life
for the last quarter of her time on earth and it is a well-earned
departure for the educator who was president of Hollins College
from 1991 to 1996.
She heads Woodlawn Inn & Estate in Ridge, Maryland, and Jubilee Vineyards & Winery in Leonardtown, Maryland, these days,
working with her husband (Jim Grube) and sons. Woodlawn's
grounds are part of Trinity Manor, which dates from 1634. It is
used for both lodging and a number of warm-weather weddings.
Winemaker and son Tucker Grube-O'Brien announced in late
December that the year's vintage of Slack wines had sold out and
the 2017 version was ready to be bottled.
Maggie O'Brien, who was born in 1953 and grew up in Annapolis, was dean of the faculty at Middlebury College (she's a chemist)
in Vermont when she was hired as president of Hollins. Of her time
in Vermont, she once said, "The isolation was too much. Vermont
has only had more people than cows in the last decade."
While at Hollins, which became a university in 1998, she oversaw
its sesquicentennial (1991-'92) and added new master's degrees in
children's literature and teaching. She helped automate the Fishburn
library and established the Hollins network and website. Planning
for the Wyndham Robertson Library began during her term.
Under her leadership, Hollins pursued its most ambitious capital campaign to date with a goal of $41 million. During her presidency Hollins began an international relations major and five new
interdisciplinary programs that included environmental, global and
imagination studies. It also joined an eight-college exchange program with Universidad de las Americas in Puebla, Mexico, and set
up an MBA link with American University. Hollins worked a special arrangement with Christie's in London to join the Christie's
Decorative Arts Program.
O'Brien resigned the presidency in 1996 to move closer to her
childhood home in Maryland, accepting the presidency of St. Mary's
College, a college that is widely known for its nationally prominent
sailing program, for archaeology and marine biology.
Early in her tenure, 13 students on a trip to Guatemala, were
kidnapped and five were raped. O'Brien was quoted in the Chicago
Tribune at the time as saying, "It's unfortunate that what was a mission of human interest and kindness was so bitterly turned around."
The newspaper reported that "their journey of discovery" devolved
into "a terror-filled 90-minute ordeal in the isolated field, where
they were robbed by as many as seven gunmen who then raped five
of the young American women."
82 | MARCH/APRIL 2017

Maggie O'Brien graced the cover of the women's issue in 1991.

She served a St. Mary's term that the Washington Post called "tumultuous," one where she resigned in 2009 "under pressure from
the faculty," which found her management style "autocratic and
opaque." The faculty did not mention that under her leadership St.
Mary's had the highest graduation rate of any public post-secondary
institution in Maryland. After leaving the presidency, she continued
with St. Mary's working for the college's Centre for Medieval and
Renaissance Studies in Oxford, England.
The Baltimore Sun reported at the time of O'Brien's resignation,
"In her nearly 13 years as president, O'Brien intensified the school's
curriculum and elevated its recognition nationwide, landing the
college a spot on several magazine lists of the nation's top public
colleges." It added that "the college raised millions of dollars for
construction, scholarships, professorships, lecture series, and arts,
athletic and community programs."
Maggie O'Brien was not available for interview for this article.
-DAN SMITH
THEROANOKER.COM

http://www.THEROANOKER.COM

The Roanoker March/April 2017

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